3250 Insects. 



Passalcecus gracilis. 



Cerceris arenaria, C. omata. 



Philanthus triangulum. It will be recollected that Mr. Curtis was 

 the first who captured this insect in England, at the back of the Isle 

 of Wight, some years ago, and since that time only three or four spe- 

 cimens have to my knowledge been met with : but, says Shuckard, in 

 his f Fossorial Hymenoptera,' " I suspect it is extremely local ; but 

 when its metropolis shall be discovered, it will be taken in abun- 

 dance." Its metropolis is found, it is situated in Sandown Bay, and 

 I have to the fullest extent verified his prediction. Any account of 

 this hitherto extremely rare insect must prove interesting. The first 

 sight of it on the wing was to me a most eventful and interesting oc- 

 currence. I had, however, formed an incorrect opinion of this fine 

 insect ; its appearance is calculated to mislead one into the belief of 

 its being, as Shuckard remarks, " a very bold insect: " its appearance 

 is quite deceptive. I found both sexes equally abundant about the 

 slopes, principally on the flowers of the common bramble, and upon 

 these 1 caught numbers with my fingers. They are easily captured 

 without the aid of a net ; and if disturbed, they only fly to a short dis- 

 tance and are easily taken. All my efforts to provoke the insect to 

 sting were fruitless. The males are by far the most active, and occa- 

 sionally in the hottest sunshine take rapid flights, returning to the same 

 spot, somewhat after the manner of Astata boops ; but when settled 

 on flowers they are easily secured : in fact, instead of the fine, bold, 

 and active insect which I had pictured to myself, they are rather stu- 

 pid and inactive creatures ; or possibly their inertness arose from that 

 want of hereditary fear which animals acquire from experience, and 

 which descends to their race, as we are told in Lord Brougham's ' Dia- 

 logues on Instinct.' The progenitors of these unsuspecting creatures 

 had acquired no sense of fear from the intrusion of man into their 

 domains ; and, like the birds in the Falkland Islands, which when 

 man first appeared amongst them settled on his shoulders, so in 

 like manner perhaps may the apparent stupidity of these insects be 

 accounted for. Having so favourable an opportunity of observing the 

 habits of Philanthus, it was not to be missed. In several instances I 

 saw them burrowing, but, strange to say, it was always the male that 

 was so employed. I could not be mistaken, as 1 captured all the in- 

 sects so engaged, and in no instance did I observe the female thus oc- 

 cupied. I observed one or two of the latter sex conveying their prey, 

 which was in every instance either Halictus zonatus, or the female of 

 Andrena fulvicrus. By these observations I do not wish it to be 



